Wikileaks, though technically not a wiki, provides an easy means to disseminate information that some find it desirable to share against the wishes of those who find it desirable to keep secret. Aside from the morality of the leaking itself, such a service provides a look into the activities of...

DAILY MANIFESTO

Who's That Pokemon?

I admit, I'm ready to defend Nintendo at any turn. People complain about slow Wii U sales, but most Nintendo systems (and consoles in general) start slow. No exclusive titles? No mature titles? Nintendo answered both of those issues with Bayonetta 2. When people whined about Nintendo not doing anything new, Super Mario 3D World and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze reminded everyone why those IPs are still going strong. Even when Nintendo announced in the latest Nintendo Direct that the 3DS version of Super Smash Bros. would release in summer as opposed to the Wii U version, which will hit shelves in winter, and all the Nintendo doomsayers started ringing the bells once again, the Mario Machine's defenders said that it was to prolong capitalization of the game's launch window. What could be better than one launch window but two launch windows?

Then Nintendo started talking about characters again: Yoshi's back, as cute as ever. Zelda and Sheik are separate characters. Not really canon, but okay, moving on. Badass Samus and Whiny Samus are separate characters as well. Charizard is on the roster, nice! That's pretty coo–

Greninja is a large, bipedal, frog-like Pokémon. Its body and legs are dark blue, with large white bubbles on its legs and arms... and it was introduced in Pokémon X/Y? Okay, Nintendo, that's it. I have to draw the line somewhere. I have a bone to pick and it involves Greninja.

Let's start with the fact that, assuming Jigglypuff still has a spot on the roster, we are up to five Pokémon: Pikachu, Jigglypuff, Lucario, Charizard, and now you have Greninja. Potentially five Pokémon. If I wanted to play a game with Pokémon fighting other Pokémon, I'd play... you know... Pokémon! Or, more specifically, I'd get my N64 out and play Pokémon Stadium. Mario has a grip of representation too, but he gets the pass because it's friggin' Mario. There are so many other great franchises to pull icons from, why not go after one of them? What about Palutena from Kid Icarus: Uprising? Or Mother Brain from Metroid? She could play like M.O.D.O.K. from Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Or what about any of these suggestions I made back in June of last year? Can anyone explain why we need another Pokémon?

My other big issue is that Greninja comes from Pokémon X/Y, which was only released last summer. To me and many other fans of Super Smash Bros., especially those that have been with the series since the beginning on N64, the whole concept was taking widely-recognizable characters from franchises on Nintendo systems and pitting them against each other. While characters like the Wii Fit Trainer and the Villager from Animal Crossing may not be as quickly recognizable as Donkey Kong or Link, they're still representative of their series. Greninja doesn't do that. If they felt forced to pick from the new Pokémon, why not go with one of the two that represented the games on their cover art, Xerneas or Yveltal?

The Pokemaniacs are going to flip their tables and call me a heretic and say “OMG DON'T BUY DE GAME IF U HATEZ GRENINJA!” Calm yourself. I'm still getting Super Smash Bros. when the Wii U version comes out and I'll probably still wipe the floor with many characters (the smack talk for this game began long ago). But there are so many options out there for roster choices, each better than Greninja.